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Hamas says 7 militants killed in Israeli strikes

USA Today Network Associated Press, AP 11:59 p.m. EDT July 6, 2014

Smoke rises after an Israeli missile strike hit Gaza City on July 07, 2014. Two Palestinian fighters were killed and another wounded late Sunday by an Israeli drone strike in the Gaza Strip, emergency services said. The victims were among a group of armed militants who were targeted by the Israeli drone east of Bureij refugee camp, near central Gaza's border with the Jewish state, witnesses said.(Photo: MAHMUD HAMS AFP/Getty Images)

JERUSALEM (AP) - The Hamas militant group says seven of its members have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, and it is vowing revenge.

In a statement, Hamas says six were killed in a single location, while a seventh died in a bombing shortly after midnight. It says that in all, nine Palestinian militants have died in Israeli airstrikes overnight.

That makes Monday the deadliest day in a current round of fighting that broke out about three weeks ago.

Hamas' military wing says "the enemy will pay a tremendous price."

The Israeli military said it carried out a number of airstrikes overnight in response to continuing rocket fire out of Gaza.

In all, it says militants have fired more than 150 rockets and mortars into Israel in the latest round of fighting.